Letter in support of Hermann Dierkes, with the list of 371
signatures. Please help to ensure its wide circulation.

Thanks to Roland Rance for collecting and collating the UK signatures

On Anti-Semitism, Boycotts, and the Case of Hermann Dierkes:
An Open Letter from Jewish Peace Activists

We are peace activists of Jewish background. Some of us typically identify
in this way; others of us do not. But we all object to those who claim to
speak for all Jews or who use charges of anti-Semitism to attempt to squelch
legitimate dissent.

We have learned with dismay the allegations regarding Hermann Dierkes, a
trade unionist and leader of the Left Party (DIE LINKE) in the German city
of Duisburg. Dierkes, in response to the recent Israeli assault on Gaza
expressed the view that one way people could help Palestinians obtain
justice would be to support the call of the World Social Forum to boycott
Israeli goods, so as to put pressure on the Israeli government.

Dierkes has been subjected to widespread and vitriolic denunciations for
anti-Semitism, and accused of calling for a repeat of the Nazi policy of the
1930s of boycotting Jewish products. Dierkes responded that “The demands of
the World Social Forum have nothing in common with Nazi-type racist
campaigns against Jews, but aim at changing the Israeli government’s policy
of oppression of the Palestinians.”

No one has made any claims of anti-Semitism against Dierkes for anything
other than his support of the boycott. Yet he has been accused of “pure
anti-Semitism” (Dieter Graumann the Vice-President of the Central Jewish
Council), of uttering words comparable to “a mass execution at the edge of a
Ukrainian forest” (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung editorialist Achim Beer),
and of expressing “Nazi propaganda” (Hendrik Wuest, General Secretary of the
Christian Democratic Party).

We signatories have differing views on the wisdom and efficacy of calling
for a boycott of Israeli goods. Some of us believe that such a boycott is an
essential component of a campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions
that can end the four-decade-long Israeli occupation; others think the
better way to pressure the Israeli government is with a more selective
boycott focused on institutions and corporations supporting the occupation.
But all of us agree that it is essential to apply pressure against the
Israeli government if peace and justice are to prevail in the Middle East
and all of us agree that a call for a boycott of Israel has nothing in
common with the Nazi policy of “Don’t buy from Jews.” It is no more
anti-Semitic to boycott Israel to end the occupation than it was anti-white
to boycott South Africa to end apartheid. Social justice movements have
often called for boycotts or divestment, whether against the military regime
in Burma or the government of Sudan. Wise or not, such calls are in no way
discriminatory.

Violence in the Middle East has indeed led to some acts of anti-Semitism in
Europe. There was a call to boycott Jewish-owned stores in Rome that was
widely and appropriately condemned. We deplore such bigotry. Israel’s crimes
cannot be attributed to Jews as a whole. But, at the same time, a boycott of
Israel cannot be equated with a boycott of Jews as a whole.

An acute and disturbing form of racism rising in Europe today is
Islamophobia and xenophobia directed at immigrants from Muslim countries.
Dierkes has been a champion in defense of the rights of immigrants, while
some of those who accuse all critics of Israel of being anti-Semitic often
participate themselves — like the Israeli government and state — in such
forms of racism.

The Holocaust was one of the most horrific events in modern history. It is a
dishonor to its victims to use its memory as a bludgeon to silence
principled critics of Israel’s unconscionable treatment of Palestinians.

[We have spent just a week gathering names on this letter, circulating it
only in a few countries. We apologize to all those who would have liked to
sign, but didn’t get a chance or whose names arrived too late for inclusion.
For information on how you can help support this effort, please contact
Dierkes.Letter@gmail.com.]